Music Box
by boogaloo
Summary: The host club. Perfect and polished, nothing about them could possibly be seen as bad... some doors are best left unopened. Based loosely on the 'Pandora's Box' legend. BmFFD.


_Disclaimer: I do not own the Host Club (wheep)_

**_This is my first entry to "The Super Hyper BiMonthly Fanfic Dares!"_** Link to **community**: .net/community/Bi-Monthly_Super_Hyper_Fanfict_Dares/68085/

_**Please check out the forum, too, and tell us what you think!**_ : .net/myforums/boogaloo/1764113/

_The theme this fortnight was Myths and Legends, so this is based (loosely, I have to say) on Pandora's Box. You know the one. She opens a box and all this crap comes flying out, like poverty, disease, etc. Then at the bottom there's hope, and that's how it works out._

Please review when you read! They make me so happy! :D

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Haruhi had always told herself, "don't get involved with anyone you're unsure of." But from the first time she sat in class, first block of the first day of the first term, and was given _that _look by the twins, the one that still found her unfamiliar, and common, and irritatingly insignificant, it was obvious that they were to become something of importance in her life, whether she decided to let them or not.

Of course she had heard about the host club. The girls in class talked about them constantly. They were perfect in personality, etiquette, charm. They were slick, polished, creative and unfathomably handsome.

It sounded very shady business. Selling your love? Haruhi was sure she'd heard that before, under some other alias.

The music room door, she decided early on, was not to be opened by her, and that the evils of that club were kept safely tucked away in their Pandora's box, as it were.

Well, perhaps not evils. They were just a bunch of idiots, looking for a way to kill time, and heck, she only wanted a place to study. It wouldn't hurt to use the music room just once.

On the outside, all six boys were perfect. Inside , though, were troubles, tribulations, toils and just a little slice of cake. They were complex. They were strange, and when Haruhi opened that door- the box- she let those troubles into her own world.

_Self-obsession. Denial. Contradiction. Exclusion. Loneliness. Distrust. _

In all honesty, the twins were twisted, possessive, jealous, manipulative, stubborn, impossible people. They knew no one but each other for about fifteen years of their sixteen, and had grown to trust almost no one. They were a set of two sick individuals made into an unstoppable double-act, who prayed on the innocent and caused them misery for their own pleasure.

_Greed. Egoism. Pride. Blackmail._

Everything Kyouya did, he swore he did for his image, and saw no fault in that. He kept his feelings to himself, and just expected things to go the way he planned them out. He had to be the best at what he did. He had to overcome every obstacle put in his path. He had quietly and slowly become obsessed with the idea of success. He felt no shame in taking hard-earned money from people like Haruhi, or threatening people he disagreed with.

_Gluttony. Competitiveness. Materialism._

Hunny was, in general, a kind and sensitive young man, but he was materialistic. He would do almost anything for cake, or toys, or something sweet. If he was challenged, or seen as second-best in his field, for example, if he wasn't as cute as someone else, he would strive to overcome them. In some senses, that could be a good thing, but the way he did it, he was sneaky and slick.

Mori could be trusted, and the hosts knew that, but if that was a front, and he really didn't care much for them, no one could possibly be any the wiser. The senior never expressed how he truly felt, and Haruhi had a horrible premonition that one day, he would crack, the pressure, the sin, the whizzing insanity finally reaching the voice in him that would shout out, and his words would be sharp and cold.

_Vanity. _

And Tamaki... Tamaki was an annoying, persistent idiot, who was obsessed with his looks, and certain that he was God's given gift to women, unrivaled. He was as possessive as Hikaru and Kaoru, but perhaps worse than them, he covered it with a trivial little joke, Haruhi being his 'daughter'. Yes, he appeared genuine, but he also rarely concerned others with his deeper thoughts, and could have been as false as he was irritating, although it was doubtful whether or not he actually had the brains to pull it off. And yes, if he had heard that, he would have most certainly sank into his corner of spiraling turmoil and depression, only flattered out of it by contradictions of the completely true statement that had sent him there in the first place.

_Envy. Lust. Falsehood. Discrimination._

Every last one of those clowns was guilty of looking down on Haruhi, because she was poor, because she was a girl, because they had to look down to make sure they didn't crush her with their giant egos, or because she was too smart for her own good, or because she was too ambitious, or because she was confused and bewildered by the unholy activities they took part in... they were all idiots... spoiled, useless, fools. Sometimes she was sure she would have been better off without meeting any of them, sometimes she just wanted to... argh, there were no words for it! Those idiots! Those damn rich bas-

"Haruhi," chuckled Hikaru. "You've been staring into space for about five minutes now."

"You keep making weird faces," added his twin. "What is it?"

The boys sat innocently at a table across from her seat, both with their heads cocked to the right, smiling sweetly.

"You look upset by something."

"Haruhi... tell me what's wrong? Please?"

She looked to Kyouya and Tamaki, the latter of which was hard to miss, leaning forward, his eyes wide and pleading. The two more innocent of the club, the seniors, stood back, showing concern, with small encouraging smiles.

Haruhi took a deep breath. Forget what she had said, she could tell these guys anything. She prepared herself for a wave of relief, a moment of release and sheer happiness. "I hate you all." She smiled suddenly, not a hint of sarcasm. "I hate you all so much."

"H...H... Haruhiiiiii!" she waited for Tamaki's crushing hug to end, but the twins tackled her too, and Hunny-senpai. She heard Kyouya sigh.

"I have to say, I saw that coming." Kyouya didn't look up from the screen of his laptop.

"Yeah," agreed Mori.

"Haruhi! Take it back, take it back! Tell me you love the host club!"

And, in a small moment of epiphany, Haruhi realized that there was no other set of twins she rather pry off of her, no other man she would rather to lie to. This was her release, the moments when she realized she was uncomfortable around them so often, it had become natural. The moment that she could look her senpai in the eye and say, "I oblige and I take it back, I hope I caused you and your lying, over-reacting club to open your eyes a little, and I hope the medicine you have served me tastes as bitter on your own tongue."

"It's not all so bad, I guess," she sighed heavily.

"Thank you, Haruhi! Thank you!"

She could finally breath again, and the hosts all smiled. There she belonged, a freak among them, together in a strange, gooey, disagreeable... togetherness.

What lay at the bottom of the box she had opened, against her own advice? Past the things she could hate and look down on, there were moments her honesty was accepted, and a place she could call her club room. Perhaps, it was just a little hope. Just the tiniest hope that maybe, this was what fate had planned for her, and this would pay off in the end, if she would stick it out, she would have people that she could admire, but also look at and safely say, "I am smarter and an easier person to get along with than them."

She just had to hold on, and hope.

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Crap-tastic :-D hehe, fun though to try and find faults with all of our perfect hosts. I love your reviews!!!


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